Surface World May 2019 Surface World May 2019 | Page 68

PRODUCTS & PROCESSES
Deadlines for drivelines
Prototype construction and surface
coating as a race against time
The demands on modern
automobiles are virtually
impossible to achieve. They
have to be dynamic and
powerful, yet at the same
time eco-friendly, economical,
quiet and safe. The driveline
plays a crucial role in
meeting these performance
requirements. No wonder,
then, that – in the prototype
stage – the tests for new
drive shafts and joints are
also extremely demanding.
To ensure that in this phase
the drive shafts deliver –
not only technically but
also in terms of their optics
– on what they promise,
Neapco Europe GmbH, an
internationally operating
developer and manufacturer
of chassis components,
has them coated by the
German company Pallas
GmbH & Co. KG. As a proven
specialist for sophisticated
surface engineering, Pallas
has exactly what it takes
to complete the coating
jobs “just in time”, in spite of
the challenging technical
specifi cations and the
extreme time pressure.
Founded in 1924, today Neapco is an
international technology leader with five
global locations – in the USA, China,
Mexico, Poland and Germany – and employs
over 2,200 people. Neapco Europe GmbH
is located in Düren, Germany. With a staff
of 850 employees, it develops and produces
drive shafts, differentials and wheel hubs for
almost all of Europe’s premium automobile
manufacturers.
Starting in summer 2018, this is where the
StreetScooter will be manufactured for the
Deutsche Post. At the same time, Neapco’s
prototype shop in its Düren works is the
company-wide competence centre for the
development of new components. This is the
command centre for Neapco’s application
engineers all over the world, and it is also here
– in Düren in Germany’s Rhineland – that all
of the concern’s prototypes are manufactured.
Whether the drive trains are destined for
internal combustion, hybrid or electric motors,
for front or rear-wheel drives, for off-road SUVs
or all-wheel drive models – Neapco creates
drive shafts, joints and collars, all of them
tailored perfectly to the particular drive
technology and assembly scenario.
Thanks to integration of construction,
production, quality assurance and logistics
across all its company locations, Neapco
supports its customers from initial concept,
development and testing right through to
serial production.
Everything from
a single source
Such service calls for state-of-the-art
technologies and processes that guarantee
precision-engineered solutions. So the
prototype shop offers a comprehensive
portfolio of drive shafts that, over the years,
have been continuously further developed in
collaboration with the various OEMs.
Depending on the required power
transmission, the Neapco engineers select the
suitable shaft type from this portfolio. This
could be anything from a hollow shaft for a
standard passenger vehicle to the solid shaft
required for reasons of stability in the case of a
truck, or a tubular shaft, or a swaging shaft or
a shaft in the form of a dog bone. Configuring
the technically sophisticated components to the
specific vehicle type involves an extensive
prototype process in which crash behaviour,
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MAY 2019
read online: www.surfaceworld.com